Broken Black
by SkylarBlackwell
Summary: Never before had i seen so much pain. I thought I knew everything there was to know about you. We had been fighting each other for so long. So why did I not notice the anguish hidden behind those sapphire eyes? Rated T 4 graphic content. DM/BRS
1. Chapter 1

The sky was gray and desolate. The wind was harsh against the infertile ground and howled through the ruins of grand castles and churches. Tombstones were scattered across huge expanses of land, dotting the endless landscape with patches of grey just as the shrapnel from forgotten wars did. There was no life for miles and miles, as far as the eye could see. There was only emptiness and solitude, for this place was indeed lonely.

But in the distance, I caught a flicker of movement. Turning my attention to it, I saw something among the crosses that did not belong. At first I thought it was the remains of someone's coat, but then I noticed that stood on its own rather than being stuck to one of the grave markers. As I looked more closely, I noticed long, unevenly tied black hair blowing out with the coat as well.

Grinning, I decided to go intrude on my old "friend's" thoughts. Leaping down from my perch upon a bridge that led to nothing, I casually strolled towards the lone figure. However, soon I realized that she didn't seem to notice me. Standing over the crosses, she simply stared up at the empty sky. Surely my presence was quite clear, but she didn't seem to care. That emotionless gaze simply continued to stare into the nothingness, giving nothing away.

Then, without warning, she turned to leave. My anger flared, but I wondered why. Usually I grew bored when Black Rock Shooter did not wish to play with me, but recently I had despised her for ignoring me. Perhaps it was because of my short connection with that girl. Her feelings for Black's human counterpart had been so strong. They were probably the only reason I was still here, alive and breathing. I had been so set on dying and leaving this wretched place, but it seemed these feelings I had so eagerly wanted to rid myself of would not leave me, chaining me to this empty and lifeless world. It was infuriating in itself. Black only made it worse by ignoring me.

Summoning my skulls, I silently sent them flying. Though she seemed to be in her own little world, Black Rock Shooter still managed to dodge my minions as if they were snails. She drew her katana from nowhere, pointing it at me. I watched in stunned silence as she seemed to stare through my very soul. Those emotionless blue sapphires bore through me, seeing through my very soul until she turned and disappeared behind a wall of blue fire.

I blinked, feeling something strange. Was it… my heart? What was this pain that throbbed through my chest? I had never felt anything like this before. I was Dead Master. My heart no longer beat.

As I pondered this strange reaction, my thoughts went back to that gaze. It had been exactly the same, holding no emotion and giving away no insight into that girl's mind. But it had seemed alien. In that gaze was the pain and despair of someone who had lived far longer than anyone should ever have to bear. In those eyes was the look of true agony.


	2. Chapter 2

I walked through the silent night, my thoughts still on that infuriating Black Rock Shooter. For so long I had thought I knew everything there was to know about that girl. But even after a year of meaningless quarrels and skirmishes, she still managed to amaze me, always keeping me guessing. I hated it. Correction, I hated her.

Or at least that's what I tried to convince myself.

Lost in thought, I did not notice were I was until it was too late. I felt the presence, but it was right on top of me. Looking up, I saw the glass coming at me. I shielded my head, waiting for the searing pain of sharpened glass cutting through my pale skin. The pain never came, though. The only thing I felt was something warm bent over me.

Blinking, I stared up at Black. She stood, pulling a huge shard of glass from her shoulder and turning her icy gaze to the roof of the dilapidated building. A third party stood there, preparing to lunge. Black drew her hand cannon, firing off several shots and nearly blowing the roof off the building. The attacker dove, tackling her to the ground. The two scuffled before I heard something that I knew had not been my imagination.

The girl was one I had not seen before, but with this endless world, that was not surprising. Her crimson eyes were only upstaged by the horns atop her head as she wielded a massive sword with a serrated edge stained in blood. Her long, clawed fingers dug into Black's shoulder, more blood oozing from that wound.

But Black held her ground and her expression remained stoic. Her cannon morphed into a katana and she swung up, forcing her opponent back. I watched in stunned silence as the two brawled some more, tearing through walls. Black was taking a beating. She shouldn't have been able to stand any longer, much less fight. Still she lunged into battle, those sapphire eyes mixing with that strange pain once more.

I don't know what came over me. I usually took every advantage when it came to causing Black pain, but I couldn't deal with it. The anger boiled up and soon I was gripping at my scythe. I swung and my skulls lunged into the fight. No matter what, no one would dare to take my toy away from me. Black was the only person in this entire god-forsaken place that seemed to remotely understand my standing now. She was the only person who never fled. She always fought, never once leaving me alone. She always stayed until I no longer wanted her. The fact that someone was now trying to take this prize away from me enraged me to the point of near blindness as my skulls fought harder with rage as their energy. They would not stop until I told them to and I would not stop until the crimson-eyed nuisance was nothing but a pile of dust. I would never forgive her for damaging something that was only mine to damage. I would never forgive her for scarring the skin only I was allowed to scar.

Suddenly, the girl pulled away, eyeing me as if this was the first time she noticed my presence. She yawned, seemingly bored, and stole one last look at Black. The girl stood with her clothes in tatters and blood pooling at her feet, but she held that gaze, never flinching or even considering the possibility of fleeing. So the blood-eyed girl turned and disappeared, her presence vanishing in a mere seconds.

The threat gone, I relaxed a bit. That was a mistake, for Black turned and pinned me against the wall of the building behind me. At first I moved to fight back, but then I realized something that shocked me even more than my sudden fight.

Black Rock Shooter was trembling. Her head rested against my shoulder and she propped herself up against the wall, favoring her right leg. Her left hand fell, limply at her side, blood spilling from where it had been sliced in a spiral motion.

"Sorry," she muttered in a hoarse voice, "I'm at my limit."

It was pure instinct that led me to catch the girl as her legs gave out and she fell unconscious, but I could not bring myself to leave her bleeding on the ground in such an open manner. So with a sigh, I ducked under the arm that pinned my wrist to the wall and half dragged, half carried Black into the building. It was another church with high, gothic ceilings and ancient paintings of battles I did not recognize. The pews still remained, so I gently laid her down and quietly went to pull off the jacket she so often wore. Her hand suddenly came up and caught my wrist again as that fiery blue gaze fell upon me. She stood, pushing me behind her with one hand and pressing the other to her bloody face.

"What the hell are you doing?" I snapped, moving to pull her back down. The moron was going to kill herself if she kept this up. What would I do for fun if she died?

"Ah, Looks like Ne-chan is still as protective as ever." a new voice mused. I looked up to see a girl dressed in a black dress similar to mine. She grinned, staring down at me. "Wait. You're Dead Master, right?" she laughed, "Ne-chan, you sure know how to pick 'em."

Black remained silent, still standing between me and the girl. I wondered what she thought she could do in her condition, but I sensed she would not back down either way.

"Well I thought I should warn you, Dead Master," the girl continued, "You have picked the wrong company to keep. But since I know you won't believe me, I thought I should show you instead."

"Dead!" Black cried, but it was too late. The seal beneath us lit up and we were trapped within it. I felt a searing pain hit my head and fell to my knees. Everything went black and I blindly reached for something to cling to, if only to keep from getting lost.

Vaguely, I recall a warm hand gripping my own.

It made my chest throb again.


	3. Chapter 3

"Yomi!" a voice shouted. I blinked, my senses overwhelmed in an instance. There was life all around. Bugs chirped. An owl called out. Bright lights came from a thriving city beyond the trees along with the sounds of humans all around. "Yomi-" the voice cut short and I looked up. The face before me was none other than Black Rock Shooter's, but it was also very different.

"Mato…" I mumbled, recalling the name of the girl who had been Black's human counterpart until just recently. They truly did look remarkably alike. If this girl was given time to age and grow her hair out, they would look identical except for the difference in skin tone.

As I thought this, I recalled the warm hand that had gripped mine before everything went black and quickly I sat up. "Mato, there you-" another voice called. This time when I turned, I was confronted with my own face. The only difference was the horror clearly written on the girl's face where as I was only concerned with one thing.

Found her.

At first I had mistaken it to be a rock or something, but a second look revealed the mass huddled under a tree to be fabric, not stone. Mato must have seen it too, for she quickly ran and knelt down next to Black's side. From what I could see from a distance, the girl was in an even worse condition prior to our encounter with that strange girl. She was covered in blood and her coat was in shambles.

My eyes widened as I recalled the strange events of just moments ago. Though I had been unconscious, I had felt warmth all around me. Had Black Rock Shooter actually protected me?

"We should get her home." Mato said. "My mom knows, so she'll be welcomed there."

I stood to move to Black's side only to have my ex-counterpart step between us. She looked at me with that stubborn look of determination. "I won't let you hurt Mato or Black Rock Shooter!" she all but shouted. It was possibly the last break in our connection, for I felt us completely severed now. In fact, the action was enough to make the very curls in my hair fall out. It was rather odd, having no connection to this world and still being in it, but at the moment I could not be bothered by it.

Sighing, I jumped over the girl and knelt down next to Mato, but slowly to look as little of a threat as possible. As I scooped up the heap of black her arms hooked around my neck, for what reason I did not care to ponder. Glancing back at the girl called Yomi, I smirked at her look of shock. "What fun is hurting an already broken toy before it has had time to repair?" I inquired with a deeply sarcastic tone. Mato smiled for some reason and I felt I had unknowingly gained her trust, something I didn't care about. My thoughts at the moment were all on the unconscious form curled up in my arms.

Surprisingly, Mato's mother took the news of her sudden guests quite well. She gave me a warm smile, waving me into a small bedroom where I left Mato to help a very groggy Black Rock Shooter change out of her bloody clothes and bandage her wounds. However, I was not cold-hearted enough not to feel a flash of anger as I caught a glimpse at the ugly, stitched up scar on the left side of her stomach.

Walking into the next room, I overheard Mato's mother and Yomi talking. "I understand your reluctance to tell your parents about this, especially after just trusting you enough to stay with us instead of moving again. We'll keep it a secret for now."

Strolling into the room as if I had just arrived, I looked up at the woman. If I recalled correctly, Black mentioned Mato's last name… "Kuroi-san, isn't it?" I asked.

The woman smiled. "You must be Death Master, correct? It is very nice to meet you."

"Sendo is fine." I mumbled, finding it oddly uncomfortable to have such a seemingly sweet woman call me by my given name.

"Well, Sendo-chan, you are welcome to stay here. I'm sorry, though. We only have one guest bedroom." she said, worriedly.

I was about to speak when I felt a silent presence behind me. Glancing back, I saw a very child-like Black Rock Shooter pad into the room while rubbing her eyes. She looked up at me, but remained silent and soon turned her attention to the very warm smile of Kuroi-san. I had been about to offer to leave, but suddenly seeing the blue-eyed fighter acknowledge me with such a calm demeanor made all hints of my normally sadistic and cruel behavior disappear.

"Kaa-san, Black can sleep in my room." Mato called also walking into the room.

Kuroi-san shook her head. "You an Yomi share that room now. You can't possibly fit that girl in there as well." I sat down, listening to their exchange. Black sat down next to me, our usual hostility towards one another forgotten.

"Then I can stay in the guest bedroom with… Sendo and Black can stay with Yomi." Mato decided.

"From what you've told me, you and Sendo-chan do not particularly get along." Kuroi-san argued. With that I recalled that it must have seemed like I had kidnapped Yomi and stolen her from Mato, when in fact she had willingly come to the Other World to escape her own despair.

"But Sendo and Black don't get along either." Mato countered.

The elder woman glanced down at where I sat and smiled. "That doesn't seem to be the case anymore." she observed. With a quick glance, I noticed that Black had drifted back off to sleep and was leaning against my shoulder.

Sighing for what seems like the hundredth time in such a short amount of time, I stood and again picked the girl up. At Yomi's worried expression, I grinned. "Do not worry. Your beloved hero will remain undisturbed this evening." I assured her, closing the door to the guest bedroom.

Gently, I set Black down on the bed and moved to leave when she caught my wrist. Under the large shirt she wore, she seemed oddly fragile. Those familiar blue eyes slowly and tiredly opened, silently looking up at me.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay just one night.

Days and weeks went by and there was still no hope of us returning to our home. Mainly we spent our days lounging about the house. Black often helped Kuroi-san with chores, carrying huge boxes about the house and doing other things a normal teenager should not have been able to do. However, I soon noticed the blue-eyed girl was becoming more and more withdrawn, especially towards me.

It was irritating.

But one day, Black Rock Shooter was nowhere to be found. Noticing my casual search, Kuroi-san smiled. "Black-chan went for a walk before Mato and Yomi return home. I believe she mentioned something about the museum."

As I went outside, I turned in the opposite direction of the thriving museum on the south side of town and made my way towards the darkened building looming on the north side of the city. I knew she would be there in that ancient museum that resembled the Other World so greatly. That place was the only sanctuary for creatures like us that did not belong in this world, at least not yet. In that place where everything was already in shambles, we did not have to hold back and act like normal humans. There, we could be the strange creatures that we were, powerful and worthy of any human's fear.

She sat among the rubble, staring up through a massive window with shattered glass all around. The pain in that gaze was there once more and it unsettled me. I wondered what kind of life Black had led before we met. What had forced her to become so cold?

Black glanced in my direction before sighing and moving from her perch. She turned to leave, dismissing my presence altogether. With that one little action my anger flared, but another emotion came with it. It was something that filled my chest and clouded my judgment, entirely.

Grabbing her by the wrist, I punched Black in the face. She looked back at me in surprise, rubbing her cheek and silently wondering why I didn't send her flying across the room since it was obvious that I could. I didn't reply, averting my gaze from the girl who had somehow managed to grow as tall as I was and burying my face in her shirt.

"Baka…" I mumbled through the fabric. "Aren't you supposed to trust the people who care about you?"

Black Rock Shooter remained silent for a long time and I was about to pull away when her hand fell heavily upon my head. "I forgot. I'm sorry, Sendo."

For some reason, tears blurred my vision. My chest constricted with this strange emotion, threatening to consume me. "That's Death to you!" I choked out.

She laughed. "I'm sorry, Death."

**Author's Note:**

**Okay so I was really surprised to find the number of hits this story has gotten in such a short amount of time. So… THANK YOU! I'm really glad that so many people like it. I'm hoping it will turn out as good as everyone likes, but I'm not really sure where this story is going. It's sort of a "go with the flow" kind of thing. Therefore, this is your first and maybe only warning:**

**The rating of this story may change depending on further content. For those of you who do not like terribly depressing stories, stop reading, immediately. This also may end up as a pairing of BRS and DM so there shall be no judgment. Comments would be much appreciated, but only constructive critiques or compliments. I would prefer NOT having meaningless hate comments, which has happened before. If you hate it, don't read it. Don't make everyone who likes it suffer (cause you will make me self-conscious and I'll stop writing)**

**Translations for the Japanese Illiterate:**

**-san – respectful title for elders or people of higher standing**

**Baka – Japanese word for stupid, ignorant, dumb (an insult)**

**Seeing that I have writers block for my actual book, I may or may not post the next chapter very soon. It just depends on my mood.**

**Again, thank you for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note**

**Well I started this at 2:00 am, so not guaranteeing this chapter is any good, but since everything else has been very angsty I wanted to try lightening the mood before I crush everyone's hopes and dreams of a happy ending. :3 I also apologize, for I just noticed my last chapter has a typo. Yes I know it is Dead Master, not Death Master. It was my stupid computer, so I will correct it in this chapter, but I'm too lazy to go and edit the previous one, so please forgive me. Oh, and I forgot a translation. Sendo (Dead master's new human name) is just another word for death in Japanese. I didn't just make it up. It is related to her in a way.**

**So with that, please enjoy my latest chapter to Broken Black.**

This was terrible. Out of all of the worst ideas I had ever heard of, including the ones from the many books I managed to read, this was easily the worst out of all of them. But what was I to do? After living in this world for only two days I realized that my opponent was an immovable wall of stubbornness.

"It's already been settled, Sendo-chan. You and Black have already been enrolled into school with Mato and Yomi."

"Isn't that great, Black?" Mato smiled. "You can meet all of our friends and join a club. Hey, will you join basketball club?"

I sighed, defeated. Black and I were handed our school uniforms and everyone was waved off to bed. Falling back onto the bed, I stared up at the ceiling in frustration. Honestly, what did they expect us to do in school? What could a teacher teach me that a book had not already taught?

Sitting up, I saw Black pulling a black shirt over her head. She sat down in the chair and curled up with a light blanket, closing her eyes as she had done every night prior. However, tonight I could not stand the thought of watching her sleep in such a pitiful state for some reason. Ever since our encounter in the abandoned museum, things were different. We were no longer casual opponents who tried to kill each other. I had mistakenly admitted that I had feelings other than mere indifference towards her, though I still did not know to what extent those feelings extended.

"The bed is big enough for two, right?" I huffed, turning to one side. At first, I wondered if she had even heard me or if she had already fallen asleep, but soon the bed creaked as she climbed in with her back to mine. As I sat in the silence, I could hear her gentle breathing and I could feel the slight heat from where our backs just barely touched.

I slept well.

That morning as I nibbled on some toast, I was pleased to see a groggy Black Rock Shooter walk into the room in her new school uniform. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and grabbed a piece of toast, waiting for me as Mato and Yomi walked outside. Reluctantly I followed, Black and I walking behind Mato and Yomi. We passed by one or two other students on the way to the train, but when we boarded is when I finally noticed something very odd.

Everyone was staring at us. The entire train ride to the school I tried to ignore the indiscreet points and murmurs in our direction. I knew Black had noticed, but she stared out the window, seemingly lost in thought and ignorant of the gossip now circling around us. But since she seemed unconcerned, I ignored them. Her calm demeanor was wearing down on me now, tainting my usually easily agitated self.

School was no better. Our teacher pointed us to our seats in the back of the room just before class and we left to wait in the halls so that we could be introduced during homeroom. Several girls waved for us to follow them into class, probably mistaking us for our human counterparts. We waited for several minutes until the halls were empty and Sensei's voice came through the door.

"Everyone, before I introduce your new classmates, I've decided that we'll take the entire homeroom to let them answer questions." she called, "Girls!"

The collected gasp that sounded when Black and I entered the room was rather amusing. Black bowed, introducing herself first. "I am Black Kuroi. It is a pleasure to meet everyone." she said in that quiet voice.

I bowed next. "My name is Sendo Takanashi. Pleasure to meet you."

"Now before everyone starts asking questions, would Yomi and Mato please come to the front?" Sensei instructed. The two girls obliged, Yomi standing on my right and Mato standing on Black's left.

The story was somewhat complicated. Apparently Black and I met in Germany last year and discovered that our twins were very good friends. That being said, we became friends as well and returned home. But when my parents wanted to move once more, Yomi and I were permitted to stay with Mato and Black. Any other questions asked would be left up to us to answer, including what clubs we would join.

However, gym answered that question for us. Black and I had no interest in team sports, a force of habit that would be hard to break. After Yomi's apparent kidnapping, though, the school had decided to invest in training its students to defend themselves. So today we would be sparring under mixed martial arts rules, meaning no rules at all pretty much.

At first, I was put up against a young man with a very smug look and my merciless, sadistic personality erupted with a vengeance. At first he claimed he would go easy on me, but soon he was on his back with his fingers twitching. After that, I was put up against student after student. Soon the other sparring groups were dismembered and everyone simply sat and watched. Everyone except for a certain blue-eyed fighter. We each took on half of the class, going row by row. It was actually quite amusing to have permission to beat some sense into the lighthearted Mato, though of course I did not have any motivation to actually to harm her.

Finally, the only person left was Black. The coach stepped forward, removing the rope that split the gym in half. "I don't usually open up the whole gym to fighting, but your sisters tell me you two have professional training." he grinned, "Prove it."

With that, the fight began. Unable to use weapons or our full strength, it was not really much of a fight when it came to entertainment. Speed was not restrained, though. Soon we were dashing up and down the gym, coming at each other as we often had in our own world. I came in low and Black rolled over me. Jumping back, I managed to trip her up, but she simply flipped back onto her feet and the fight continued. This went on for what seemed like eternity before the whistle blew and we were called to stop, No winner decided, we were swarmed by admirers. It was irritating, but I put up with it. I knew that in this world I had to act like everyone else. In this world, the danger was not other creatures like me. It was the humans and their scientists and their weapons.

Day after day I stared out the window during class, wondering what was happening in the Other World. That place was so cold and lifeless compared to this world, but it was my home. I wanted to return to my peaceful solitude among the ancient books and the strange buildings that occasionally dotted the sky. But more importantly, I wanted to return to the world that accepted my existence. I did not wish to stay in this world where the cold was not always felt but was always there.

"Sendo," I looked up to see Black standing before my desk. She held out her hand as she had done over a year ago when Yomi and I had been one and the same. "Mato and Yomi are waiting outside." she said in that quiet voice.

We walked into the small garden to find a swarm of girls there rather than Yomi and Mato. They spotted us and instantly we were surrounded. "Sendo-san, have you decided on what club you're joining?" one girl asked. I only managed to blink, not quite comprehending what was going on.

"Black-san, your name is really cool!" another girl said. "You and Sendo-san looked really cool the other day in gym!"

Black and I looked at one another. Though this world would never truly be home, it showed some promise for its own generation of creatures like us. If children like this, who were so understanding and accepting, could be the ones that control this world, perhaps it would become home one day.

"There you are, Black-san." a new, much older voice called. Black's eyes widened in the greatest show of emotion I had ever seen from her before and it shook me to the core.

It was a look of absolute horror.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note**

**Before you read, you should know that A. I had started this chapter and then it got deleted (I hate my computer) and B. that this will probably be the longest chapter yet. Also, this chapter is the reason why the rating will now go from K to T because of the **_**extreme**_** violence and graphic content (very gore-filled) So those of you who were hoping for a happy ending, you should stop reading… like right now. This will be your only warning. One thing everyone should know is that while I will happily write in any genre, I am the master of horrors and tragedies. Sorry. Happy isn't my thing.**

**You've been warned.**

Black stumbled back, her eyes never leaving the strange man before us. His darkly rimmed eyes kept on her as well, filled with hunger and desire. "Black-chan, haven't you played long enough? It's time to go home and get back to work."

I don't know what was going on, but I didn't care. No one was permitted to harm my possessions. Stepping between him and Black, I shot the man a powerful glare. He blinked, seemingly just noticing my presence.

Then he grinned. "Yuu, this girl is getting in the way." he called.

"Eh?" a second voice came. I looked back to see one of our classmates as she casually walked into the garden. But instead of seeing the little brunette that everyone else could see, all I saw was the white-haired beast that had constantly gotten in my way during the past year. "Oh? It's Dead-chan." she grinned. "Strength told me all about you."

"Is that so?" I said, icily.

The man laughed. "Black-chan hasn't told you, has she?" he asked. I looked at him, angrily. "The girl you're trying to protect is the whole reason your pain even exists! That girl is the creator of the Other World."

My eyes widened and before I knew it, I was slammed into a wall with the girl standing over me. Her hand came around my throat and her eyes filled with madness. "You think you can take my toys away?" she cackled. "Let's see if you can stand having her anywhere near you after seeing what she really is!"

Everything went black.

When I opened my eyes next, I could hear the sound of screaming. I looked down and found myself standing over the corpse of a small child twisted in her own blood. "Another failure." someone moaned and I turned to see the man from before. He walked towards me and then right through me, nudging the child with his foot. Then his gaze turned to a small form huddled in the shadows of the room. "Sugata-san, take B-201 to the lab and inject her with the B virus." he ordered.

A woman appeared, kneeling down a few feet away from the trembling mass and extending her hand to it. "It's okay, B-chan. As soon as we're done I'll give you some ice cream, okay?"

Slowly, hesitantly, a small hand reached out and took the woman's. I stared in stunned horror at the small child who was slowly scooped up in the woman's arms. Her long, black hair was pulled back in perfectly symmetrical twin tails and her blue eyes were that of any normal human's, but there was no doubt that the scared child could be no one else.

"Black…" I choked. Just as the woman walked of the room, the image changed. Black was older and strapped to a table. Her eyes had lost all life as she stared up at the ceiling, letting the scientists do whatever they pleased.

"Inject the C virus." the man ordered. That same woman approached, confliction written all over her face as she stared down at Black. Black, in turn, looked up at the woman with no emotion at all. The woman slowly pushed the needle into her arm with a trembling hand.

Black screamed, writhing in pain. Tears streamed down her face as her eyes came alive with pure agony. The woman stepped back, watching with horror equal to mine as a machine came down from the ceiling and drilled through Black's stomach. Her screams grew louder and louder as blood dripped from the table down the drain in the floor.

Then, the screams stopped. A grin formed on Black's face as the machine above her twisted and groaned, flying into the one-way mirror. The man stood behind it, staring with a look of pure pleasure. "More! Do more tests!" he shouted.

"B-chan!" the woman cried.

"A stands for agony. B stands for breath." Black whispered. She looked up with a look of pure despair now. "Sugata-sensei, what does C stand for?"

The woman's eyes darkened and the fear in her fled. She took a second needle from a small stand next to her. "Chaos."

Again the image changed. Now I stood in a room much like the first. Blood was smeared across the floor and the walls and the ceiling. Mangled limbs were scattered here and there and all that remained was Black with a katana in hand. The door behind me opened and she looked up, her eyes no longer blue, but purple. Her hair was still as black as night, though as she dropped the katana and was put in chains. A small child stood in the doorway next to the woman. "Yuu-chan, we still need to do more research on D virus." the woman argued.

Yuu looked at Black with cold detachment. "It's boring. This toy is already broken."

Black was strapped to a table once more. As the woman came towards her with the needle, she looked up at the ceiling. "D virus… huh?" she mused, quietly.

The woman injected the contents of the needle. "A is for agony. B is for breath. C is for chaos. D is for death."

Black screamed and again I felt that strange feeling constrict my chest. Tears blurred my vision as I vainly attempted to make my presence known. All I could do was brush my hand against hers and watch it phase through like the hand of a ghost. But with all of my attempts to ease the pain even a little, I could only helplessly watch as her screams continued, as tears flooded those beautiful eyes.

Suddenly, everything fell silent. But this time, there was no grin. There was not even the faintest sound of a heartbeat. There was only silence. There was only death. And as I stood over her lifeless form, I cried. I sobbed, wondering how much pain I had caused her with a simple look of indifference. How much had I made her cry in the past two years?

The woman turned, leaving her underlings to clean up the mess. They surrounded me and Black and I watched as one by one the restraints were lifted. One turned to grab some surgical tools for the autopsy, but when he looked back, his comrade was staring down at his hands. "Jed, what's wrong?" the one inquired.

The man turned to reveal his hands reduced to burning, rotting flesh. "I burned myself." he laughed. The other man screamed, falling back as his comrade burst into blue flames, screaming and running about the room. As the man watched, a hand fell on his shoulder. He looked back in horror only to meet with a terrifying grin.

Black walked down the halls with the head of one of the men in her hand, everything she touched burning away in blue flames. "Sugata-san!" she called with that wicked grin, "Yuu-chan! Don't you want to play some more?"

"More!" the man cried in utter pleasure. "Show me more, B-chan!"

Black looked up at the man with a look of distaste. She walked past him without so much as lifting a finger and crashed through two metal doors. She stood in a large room full of machinery, looking about.

I watched as some sort of chamber fell upon her, trapping her. Black looked about, clearly not amused. She turned her gaze upon the reason for this entrapment only to lay eyes upon the woman. "Sugata-san, you lied." she grinned. "I thought D stood for death?"

The woman looked at Black with pain in her gaze once more. She pulled down on a heavy lever and stepped back. "It does, B-chan."

Light flooded the chamber and Black screamed. I watched as her silhouette contorted and twisted until it finally split into two. The woman hit another lever and the chamber opened, revealing not one, but two girls. One girl grabbed the other, her white hair shining almost as brightly as the purple flame coming from her left eye. She grinned, attempting to choke the very life out of the other girl when the woman approached and injected a needle into the girl's neck.

"If D stands for death, then let E stand for eternal sleep!" she shouted, vaporizing as the girl went up in powerful purple flames. Everyone was dead. Everyone had been slaughtered, their corpses nothing but piles of ashes and rotting flesh. All that was left was that small, trembling form.

Black stared at her bloody hands, her eyes wide with horror and fear. Tears streamed down her face as she looked up at the one-way mirror and saw her terrifying reflection. Part of her hair had been singed away and she was soaked in the blood of others. Her eyes, once so human, were now ringed just as every Other Self was. And from her left eye sprouted a blue flame.

The last thing I heard was that terrible, painful cry.

When I opened my eyes next, all I could see were the stars. Sitting up, I found myself on the third floor of the abandoned museum where the roof had collapsed. As I looked about, I noticed that rather than feeling like home, this place felt alien and threatening. The unforgiving wind cut through my uniform and I stood, searching the shadows for what I knew would be there.

My thoughts went back to what the little mongrel had said. All this time, I had never truly wanted to break my favorite toy because I wanted to play with her again, but in truth she had been broken all along. She had been hiding the pain and the despair all this time, never once opening up to anyone. I thought I had grown to understand her a bit better, but I found myself as far away from her as ever.

From the distance I heard a small, muffled cry. Following the sounds, I stumbled upon a room full of models of planets and stars. The entire west wall was missing, giving way to the stars. And in the shadows was a small, trembling form.

Looking down upon that broken body, I realized that the D virus did not mean death of the body or the mind. And as this thought came to my mind, I knelt down and hugged Black Rock Shooter, tightly. How could anyone expect me to reject her when she had endured so much pain? How could I possibly stare down at the sobbing girl before me and feel nothing?

I felt tears sting my eyes once more. "Why?" I whispered.

No. It was not death of the mind.

"Why did I have to fall for someone like you?"

It was the death of all the love she could have ever experienced, for no human could ever love a monster.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I should probably explain the really strange choice in names for the viruses from the previous chapter. It was supposed to sound like some really twisted poem, which ended up pretty well. A Virus is self-explanatory. B Virus stands for breath, but it really means your last breath because if it were anyone other than our main character, they would die. C Virus is explained (sort of) in this chapter and D virus was explained in the last chapter.**

**On another note, I am starting to get stuck. This may start to get really bad, but I have the ending planned all out so stick with it, please. It's just getting to the ending that's the hard part. **

**So please enjoy my attempt at random fluff inspired by some random picture I found and PLEASE send in reviews. I like to hear your opinions.**

**Enjoy 3D**

Our arrival home was less than pleasant. Kuroi-san was in tears and hugged me, making me awkwardly stand there and wonder what to do with Black still unconscious in my arms. Mato pushed me to the back bedroom and then kicked me out, leaving me to fend for myself against Yomi and Kuroi-san.

After half an hour, Kuroi-san finally believed that I was alright and went to make dinner. I stood in the hall, wondering what had happened to Black after I fell unconscious. She was a bloody mess again and, though I would have jumped at the chance to do something like that to her, it sickened me and filled me with rage to know another had. If I ever saw that girl again, not only would I kill her, I would make her suffer and scream and I would relish in the pained gaze full of fear as she begged for mercy.

"Dead," I glanced up at Yomi. She stood at the end of the hall with a strange look on her face and instantly I was suspicious I would be interrogated once more. "Can we talk?" she asked, quietly.

"Speak then," I replied, cursing myself yet again for getting Black into this mess. We should have happily been at home in the Other World, living in our peaceful realm of solitude where we could be ourselves.

"You've changed since we… last met." Yomi mumbled.

"That will happen when our connection dies." I replied, "I'm not your dark side anymore. I'm simply me."

"Then why do you still look like me?" she asked.

I blinked, surprised. It was true. If we were no longer connected, I should have taken on an entirely different form seeing that I did not disappear as most Other Selves did. And as this thought occurred to me, I realized that Black could not be an Other Self, either, for she had existed in this world as a living human far before meeting Mato. So what were we if we were not Other Selves? Did I have a human past like Black?

A strange image flickered through my mind like a memory. Someone was calling my name, waving for me to come in the distance.

My head began to throb and I leaned against the wall. "Next time I see that little rat I'll ring her neck." I growled, rubbing the bridge of my nose.

Yomi laughed and I glared at her. "Haha, I'm sorry." She gasped for breath. "You're just too funny sometimes."

"Oh?" I did not release my glare.

"I was just thinking," she continued, "I thought that you and Black hated each other at first, but you really care about her, don't you?"

Turning my gaze, I let out an indignant huff. "How can she entertain me if she keeps getting injured like this?"

Yomi was about to reply when I felt something that certainly did not belong. Holding up my hand for silence, I listened, intently. Sure enough, there was the sound of metal grinding against stone just outside. That familiar aura that set my teeth on edge filled the room and even Mato seemed to notice, for she poked her head out of our room. "Where is Black?" I asked, keeping my eye on the front door.

"She fell asleep." Mato replied. "What's going on?"

"Stay inside and make sure she does, too." I replied. "I don't know when I'll be back, so don't wait up."

Stepping out into the cool night air, I spotted the source of all of my unease. Crimson eyes stared at me expectantly and great horns sprouted from the top of her head. The giant sword she favored stopped against the ground, a deep indention in the cement from where it had dug in.

"What the hell do you want?" I snapped, clenching my fists.

"I assure you I am not here for a fight." the girl replied in deep monotone. "I came because it is time for you and Black Rock Shooter to repay your debts."

"Debts?" I was all but shouting now. My anger swelled and my scythe formed in my hand. "I owe you _nothing_!"

The girl cocked her head to one side. "Oh. You don't remember, do you?"

"Remember what?" I asked.

She shook her head. "It does not matter. It was my mistake." She sighed. "But you can't say you haven't noticed." she continued, "Look around you."

I looked about and my eyes widened. The street was different. The houses were still there, but the sidewalk was that familiar checkered pattern and the shadows moved. In the sky was not one moon, but two. Even the shadows were twisted, hazed in red.

"Our world and this one are colliding." the girl stated. "If we do not stop it, there is not only no hope for this peaceful place, but no hope for our kind to rebuild our own realm. But to stop this requires the cooperation of all Other Selves."

"How could we stop it?" I asked, skeptically.

"This anomaly is being caused by a certain Other Self trying to free what must never be released." she replied. "If she succeeds and that chaos is unleashed, no one will be able to stop it."

Black's memories drifted through my mind again and I recalled that other girl and the madness that flooded off her in waves. My eyes widened as I looked up at the red-eyed girl. "White Rock Shooter…"

The girl nodded. "That beast is seeking revenge on this world that had caused the object of her obsession so much pain. She will destroy it and when that does not satisfy her hunger for revenge, she will destroy Black Rock Shooter."

"But what can we do?" I asked, skeptically. "Unlike you, we can't really move between the two worlds so whimsically."

The girl gave a seemingly uncharacteristic smile. "I'm sure you will figure it out. For now, simply enjoy being human again."

And just like that, the girl was gone. I let out a long sigh before noticing that again I was not alone. Glancing back, I saw Black leaning against the open door. She looked up at me with that stoic gaze and I felt a pang of something unfamiliar. It was something that had once been tortured and dying, but now this feeling had grown until I could no longer simply ignore it.

Irked, I brushed by Black on my way back into the house. However, I was surprised to find that she caught my wrist. For a moment, we simply stood in silence. Through this one simple touch, she seemed to be telling me everything and telling me nothing all at once. But when I finally managed to comprehend her silent request, I couldn't help but smile. "Baka," I muttered, twisting my hand until our fingers interlocked. She blinked, surprised but clearly happy as we walked into the next room.

Kuroi-san had already called the school and informed them that Black and I would not be attending classes that day, but she made it clear that morning that she had no intention of letting us stay in the house. At seven a.m. my blanket was torn from me and when I sat up to snap at the culprit my clothes were thrown in my face. Black met with an even worse fate, for when the door had first slammed open she nearly jumped a foot in the air and crashed onto the floor.

Kuroi-san smiled at us, but for some reason it seemed that smile was more like a grin. "Alright girls, I don't care what you do today, but you are not to come back to this house until dark, got it?"

We were rushed to get dressed, given a quick breakfast of toast, one piece for me and a whole loaf for Black, and practically kicked out the door. Quite irritated about my rude awakening, I was half tempted to break the door down, but Black gave me a very uncharacteristic smile and half dragged me to the train station. For some reason, I couldn't stay mad with her holding my hand as tightly as she was. It was warm and set my mind at ease.

Once in the city, we strolled around and searched for something that would entertain us for a little while. We looked through stores for a while, but then I realized that I was practically broke and felt no incline to drill that further into my mind. Black, on the other hand, somehow managed to win prizes for all of her spoils, such as gift-cards to shopping malls and free food, and was loaded. She seemed to have no interest in the stores though, fortunately, and we wandered into a park.

"Excuse me, could you possibly help my grandson?" an elderly woman inquired. She pointed to a bright red kite stuck in a tree and I glanced down at the teary-eyed boy clinging to her side.

Black, quite literally, jumped at the opportunity to help someone and leapt to the first branch of the tree. It was quite amusing, actually. She looked to be an inexperienced climber and uncertain of her movements, but only because she was overthinking her actions so as not to look like some sort of freak who could easily jump to the top of a tree.

Unfortunately, I was soon drawn into the act, as I could no longer stand the boy quietly crying at his grandmother's side. I knelt down and pulled a penny from his ear and instantly he grinned. He sat down as I flipped the same coin and caught it in my hand. When his little fingers came to pry my hand open, he laughed when he found no penny.

"You girls are very kind." the old woman chuckled, sweetly. Just then Black jumped down and handed the boy the kite. He pushed it back in her hands and she stared in wonder as he dragged the string and pulled the kite free, sending it soaring into the sky.

I smiled to the woman. "It was our pleasure."

After a while we parted ways with the old woman and her grandson and spotted an arcade. We would have ignored it, except Black's strange magnetism to pure luck kicked in and a young man hurriedly rushed out of the building and bumped into us. He smiled. "Ah. I'm in a rush, so could you please put these to good use?" he asked, handing Black a small pouch of coins. She looked at me, questioningly and I shrugged.

The arcade was more entertaining than I had thought it would be. Black dragged me onto some sort of dance machine and we each easily followed the steps, receiving quite a bit of attention from the other customers. Next we moved on to a game where an older man was crouched. He grinned, saying that we would never beat him, as he held every high score the computer had ever recorded. Of course, Black and I took up the challenge as a way to pass the time, but it ended with the man sobbing on the floor as we each put in our names for the first ten high scores.

I was in the process of idly looking through the music selection when a stuffed bear was suddenly shoved in my face. I looked up to see Black standing over me with a warm smile. She nudged the bear into my arms and I examined it, noticing it was the one I had noticed in the claw-machine. Apparently she had thought I wanted it, for she had been playing the game for twenty minutes now.

Coins gone, we made our way back home in the warmth of the setting sun. I clung to my gift and paused on the bridge, gazing out at the world all around us. "I wonder if the Other World was ever like this." I said, idly, missing our home. Perhaps it was because I was so sadistic and cruel and I simply seemed to belong there that I loved that place so dearly, but it felt like more than that. It felt as if that place held so much potential. It was more than just a desolate world of destruction and death for us. It was home. It was where we could be accepted and be free to live as we were, not pretending to be what we were not.

I jumped slightly when Black's arms came around my neck from behind. "The past is no longer important. What matters is what we make of it when we return." she said, her warm breath whispering down my neck as her lips brush against my skin. "I've heard the stories the Ancients have spoken of our forgotten world and I know that the potential is there. We simply have to let it grow."

Heart beating in an unfamiliarly quick manner, I nodded. Black gave me a warm, encouraging smile and we continued home. When we returned, we sat around the table and ate dinner. The air was filled with laughter and warmth and this strange feeling in my chest would not subside. I didn't mind, though. Slowly, I was growing used to this feeling which had once been painfully festering away. Slowly, it was beginning to bloom.

Exhausted from the day's excitements, I barely managed to summon the energy to change into a pair of short, I mean _very_ short, shorts and a tank-top before falling onto the bed. Black moved towards the couch, but I caught her wrist. The thought of being apart, no matter how short the distance was, was not appealing at the moment as I was feeling extremely generous. Black seemed to take notice, for she curled up next to me and we both drifted off to sleep.

I was still clinging to the stuffed bear the next morning.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Ok so I am back! Again I would like to say I really appreciate all the nice reviews and stuff. I am really sorry that it has taken me so long to update this story, but first I had writers block, then exams, then more writers block, and now a cold. However, I have been inspired a bit (let's hope, anyway) so it might, MIGHT turn out as I planned. So please R+R! **

I had intended to keep my meeting with Black Gold Saw to myself, but the longer I kept this knowledge away from Black, the more I dwelled on it. Why should I care what happened to the rest of the world, though? It was not supposed to be my concern, and yet more and more I kept thinking about what the world would be like without Black Rock Shooter in it. I shouldn't have cared, though. I was Dead Master, the bringer of despair and destruction to everything I touched.

I was mistaken to think that Black did not notice.

The moon shone overhead as I took an evening stroll in an attempt to get away from the focus of all of my new worries. More and more I wondered why I was opening up to this girl I had once hated so much. Why was this strange feeling in my chest growing when I knew that, given time, she would disappear just as everything else in my life did? The only constants in my life were my two skulls and the solitude of everything else. Everything else I had ever become attached to simply faded to dust, slipping between my fingers. There was no point in the emotion called love when it was simply ripped away from me.

Suddenly, the sound of metal slicing through the air caught my attention. I summoned my scythe, something I was quite pleased to find I could still do, and swung at the object as if it were a baseball. Another came, and then another, but each time I sliced through it. When the make-shift missiles stopped, Strength appeared with Yuu smugly standing at her side. "It seems we meet again, Dead Master." she mused.

I glared at the two, wondering why Strength was involved in this at all. Having only met her once before, I only knew that she was quite resigned and avoided unnecessary conflict as much as possible. So what did she have to gain by attacking me? Surely the little mongrel wasn't controlling her.

"Strength agrees with me that you are undeserving of standing at Black Rock Shooter's side." Yuu said, again reading my mind somehow. "Shooter is strong and is the center of White's world, so she should definitely come to our side. And the only way to do that is by destroying the only thing holding her back."

A grin crossed my lips. "You think you can kill me, human?" I chuckled, gripping at my scythe. "Let's see you be that cocky after I've sliced off an arm or two."

But in the blink of an eye, Strength was standing in front of me. She pinned me to the ground with one of her massive ogre arms, choking the air from my lungs. I gasped, desperately trying to get out of her hold.

Yuu laughed, looking down at me with those insane eyes of hers. "I understand your confusion. To have that much metal on one's body would make anyone else noticeably slower, but that's why Strength is my Other Self. She is the best and gets what she wants, just like me."

As she said those words, a memory that was not my own again invaded my mind. It was Strength. She was small and human, but she was full of joy as she ran into the arms of some unseen person. And then she was surrounded by a family of her own. She was so happy.

I laughed. Strength's emotionless gaze flickered with some unseen emotion as her brows furrowed. "You think Strength is anything like you?" I asked of Yuu. The girl stopped her laughing, glaring at me. "You have your own reasons for doing this, I'm sure." I continued, now turning my acid-green gaze to Strength. "But you are not an Other Self and you know it. You had a life in this world. You had a family that you loved and that loved you. You were here. You _existed._"

"Shut up!" Yuu shouted, angrily. "Strength, finish her! Finish her and Black Rock Shooter will finally be ours!" Strength's eyes went dead again as she raised her other ogre arm, preparing to crush me. I struggled to get free, but it was useless. I was going to die here. I would never get to see the potential our world had that Black had spoken of. I would never get to see her again. I was going to die here without ever telling that obnoxious little whelp how much she had saved me in the last few months.

The feeling in my chest grew until it was painful. My hand went limp as my lungs were deprived of too much oxygen and my vision began to fade. Yet I could clearly see that rare, warm smile that Black now so often gave me. I had not been able to understand this strange pain in my heart until just now. I had been so afraid to grow close to anyone, knowing it would only cause me pain when they were destroyed. But Black was different. Time and time again she had gotten hurt for my sake. Time and time again she had done everything to protect me. This feeling kept growing not because she did anything particularly special. This feeling kept growing because she was still here, at my side, after all this time.

Then, a black mass appeared out of nowhere, mangling Strength's ogre arm in the blink of an eye. The white-haired girl grunted, moving away from me and throwing a punch at the stranger. Strength's attack was stopped dead in its tracks, though. The very personification of power was losing in a battle of strength as she was thrown to the side. A yawn escaped her opponents lips as the girl stabbed her massive black sword into the ground. She looked at me with red-orange eyes and grinned.

"Great Black Sword." I sighed, "Why am I not surprised?"


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Please read this before you read the update. First, there will be view changes in this chapter and probably the ones after this. So I have really limited information to all of the characters affiliated with BRS, therefore it would be great if you could forgive me ('cause I will probably make a mistake a two when it comes to who is evil and who is not). That being said, of course some characters will be out of character, like Great Black Sword, for example. Just please bear with me. Thanks again for reading and please send in reviews. I enjoy knowing people are still reading after seven chapters. **

Great Black Sword grinned at me. Out of all the "Other Selves" of our world that I had met or read about, she was easily the most… colorful. Unlike many of us who hid our emotions and remained detached from everyone else, she smiled and laughed and enjoyed life. It was quite interesting to watch, because when she started to fight she became just like anyone else, meaning an emotionless killing machine.

"Ah. You must be Dead Master. It's good to finally meet the only person in the world that strikes an interest to Black Rock Shooter." Sword mused. "No offense, but I can't see why she likes you."

"I can't see why anyone wouldn't jump at the chance to cut out your tongue with how much you talk." I growled.

She grinned, "No need to get so touchy. I came because Nana Gray asked me to. She's on the south side of town trying to keep a certain blue-eyed fighter from getting killed. I'm just here to get you."

My eyes widened. "What happened to Black?"

"The same thing that happened to you. Someone is sending people to kill you." Sword explained. "Black Gold Saw sent us here to help. She said something about not wanting her weapons to be destroyed before they were even used."

I turned and was about to run to where Black was when Strength appeared again. Yuu angrily shouted, "No one is going anywhere!"

Anger flared in me and I grabbed my scythe, spinning it up and bringing it down on Strength. She caught it, but her hands trembled. I forced the scythe down, pushing as hard as I could. "Get out of my way!" I snapped, spinning my heel into Strength's side. She crashed into a tree, splitting it in half as I continued to run through the small park. Soon I was pushing through people and narrowly avoiding cars. Great Black Sword followed behind me, grinning as I lost all patience.

"Over here!" a voice called. I looked up to see a very bloody girl with gray hair and a sword with orange tips leaning against a wall and trying not to look too conspicuous among the busy people. My heart went cold as I saw her and the pain in her gaze.

"What happened?" Sword asked.

"At first we only had to deal with Black Matagi. I thought Black didn't need my help at all with the way she was fighting." Nana explained between labored breaths. "But then Ninja Zero-Two came out of nowhere. I tried to stop them, but…"

"What?" I asked in an airy voice. Panic was seizing my chest.

"They took her." she finished.

My heart stopped and only one emotion filled me now. It was familiar in its cold, painful grip around my very soul. I had not felt this feeling in so long, but now I embraced it. And with that embrace more of those familiar emotions filled me until I thought I might burst.

"He… Haha… HAHAHAHA!" a voice cried. I did not have to turn around to know it was Yuu. "What's the matter, Dead? Now that your body guard is gone are you too scared to do anything? Are you just going to run home and cower away while White Rock Shooter destroyed this place?"

"Dead…" Nana mumbled, putting her hand on my shoulder. "You can't give up! Black needs you!"

"Maybe I should just kill you now and save White the trouble!" Yuu continued to laugh insanely. "You'll die right here and I'll be the last face you ever see! Go ahead and hate me! I'll be the last face you look at as you choke on your own blood! Then I'll bring your head to show Black. Maybe I can get a look at that old face I used to love so much. HAHAHA!"

Strength slammed into me, driving a huge piece of metal through my stomach and into the wall behind me. Blood spilled from my stomach and people began to scream, fleeing from the scene that unfolded before them. My last chance at being human had disappeared. I was probably going to die and yet there was no despair to be felt. There was not a single shred of regret or agony in me.

There was only hatred.

* * *

><p><em>Yuu's point of view now (thought I'd mix things up a bit)<em>

She was going to die. Finally the person who had ruined all my fun was going to die. After this Black would be all mine again. I could do whatever I pleased to the little runt just as I used to. This time I would make sure she never escaped, though. This time, I would look own at that pain-ridden face until the very end.

But then Strength stumbled back, looking oddly surprised. I looked up and, to my horror, watched as Dead Master pulled away from the metal shard stabbing through her stomach. Her head hung back and her shoulders slumped for a moment before she disappeared. I spun to retreat only to find her standing right behind me.

"WHERE IS SHE?"

That face was unlike any I had ever seen before. It was not like Yomi's dead gaze or even the angered one I had encountered in the courtyard of the school.

"WHERE IS BLACK?"

There was only hatred. It was pure and evil, as if a terrible monster stood over her. Those acid-green eyes shone with a sadistic violence I had never before encountered and it terrified me. My entire life I had been called a monster by those who truly knew me, but not now. For the first time in my life, I believed I was really standing before something that was not human.

"**TELL ME!" **

This was the true face of a monster.

"S- She's being held in a castle in your world… It's a day's walk past the old church you both fought in the first time… T-to the east…" I choked.

Dead Master spun on one heel and stalked off. I looked to Strength, but the powerful girl would not budge. She seemed to be just as shocked as I was, as did the other two girls.

"D-Death Scythe!" I called.

"You called?" a bored voice inquired. The scythe-wielding girl looked down at me with emotionless grey eyes. She looked up at Dead Master and sighed. "I don't understand why White puts you in charge of anything to begin with."

"Dead look out!" Great Black Sword shouted. Death Scythe was already upon her, though. Her black scythe sung back and I could just see that monster's head rolling off. No one would ever know that such a monster existed. I would become the monster again.

The sound of metal cutting flesh never reached my ears, though. Instead Death Scythe's blade stopped dead in its tracks with Dead Master's clawed hand holding onto the blade. She looked back with those monstrous eyes and her own scythe appeared in her hands. "You're being really persistent…"

The sound I had wanted to hear moments ago filled the air, but Dead Master remained standing. Behind her, death Scythe's body slumped to the ground and her head rolled to a stop at my feet.

"It's irritating."

I laughed, looking up at Dead Master, who now stood over me with her scythe glimmering in the faint light. "Kill me…" I laughed. "Kill me you freaking monster!"

Her head tilted to one side. "Those who chose to get in my way can go get crippled or die for all I care, but I will not stain my hands with your blood." she said in a voice so cold that it burned. Green fire sparked from her eye as she spoke. "You're nothing worth my time. So heed my words little human,"

"No…" I choked.

"This will be the last time you ever lay eyes upon me."

And with those final words, she disappeared in a wall of green fire. Great Black Sword and Nana Gray followed closely behind, leaving Strength and I all alone. I stared down at death Scythe's head and into those eyes that still held the last emotion she had ever felt. That gaze would haunt me for the rest of my life. No matter what, I would always remember the feeling one gets when they die by Dead Master's hand. I would never forget that last, terrible, helpless feeling.

Fear…

**AN: Hahaha… And this is why this is rated T.**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Okay I should just tell you now. I know I've hinted at a relationship between BRS and Dead Master, but starting either during or after this chapter, it will be serious. Of course nothing extreme will happen, but if you have moral objections, I apologize and warn you to stop reading immediately. Other than that, this will also continue to be really violent for a few chapters. I'm sure if you've read this far you don't care, but I feel obligated to tell you again. So please enjoy my latest update and the rest of this story. Keep reviewing as well, please!**

"That was… scary." Great Black Sword mumbled. "I mean, you were terrifying, Dead."

"How do we get back?" I snapped. "There has to be a way. Black Gold Saw wouldn't just leave you stranded here, would she?"

"Dead Master, you should rest. You're still bleeding." Nana Gray said in her airy voice. We were standing in the park again and I was pacing, ignoring the blood that made my baggy shirt stick to my skin. There was no pain from the wound. The only feeling I could even process was the aching, painful need to see Black safe and sound.

I wondered why I was now so possessive of Black Rock Shooter. All my life I had distances myself from everything I cared about. If I grew too close, it would turn to dust, slipping between my fingers. Every person I had loved in this long life had all run from me, seeing me as a monster just as Yuu had. It was what fueled me. It had not been Yomi's possessiveness or jealousy that had created me, but the absolute and pure hatred of someone else. Certainly I had been drawn to that girl because of our shared emotions, but only after I had already existed in this world. I simply could not recall why this evil feeling was so deeply rooted in me.

"It seems you're still stumbling around like an infant, Dead Master." a familiar voice called.

* * *

><p><em>BRS's view<em>

It hurt…

It had only been a few hours, but the pain inflicted upon me felt as if it had lasted for an eternity. Already it was beginning to fade, though. It seemed I was still too familiar with such feelings. I was still too used to this place that reminded me so much of death. To think that this room I had been put through so much pain in had suddenly appeared in this world of all places was not entirely surprising, however. It was too fitting for this now tainted world I had once loved so much.

"Ne, ne Black." a painfully familiar voice chuckled. Pain gripped at my stomach and seized my breathing as my own sword was stabbed through my stomach. I looked up at my own face, but it was stained white. "You know, while you were out in the world I was trapped in this place." White Rock Shooter mused. "I thought you would come and save me just as I came to save you, but you never once came anywhere near this place. You just left me to rot in this accursed room while the Ancients sent you out on their errands in the real world."

"White Rock-… Shooter…!" I choked out through the fresh pain.

"Since you wouldn't pay any attention to me, I found Yuu again. She really hates you for escaping, ya know?" White went on. "So now she's going to take your most important thing and crush it."

My eyes widened. White grinned and laughed, insanely. She grabbed the chains that bound me to the wall and yanked me forward, stabbing my sword into my thigh next.

"Since Black-chan is mean and left me all alone, I'm going to destroy everything until we're the only two left." she cackled. "Then you'll have to play with me!"

Silently I begged whatever god may be watching me to give me the strength to get up. I needed to fight. I needed to protect Mato and Kuroi-san and Yomi. I needed to protect Dead.

"And the first person I'm going to kill in that world is the person Black-chan loves the most." White continued. "Will you cry when I make you behead your precious Dead Master?"

* * *

><p><em>Dead Master<em>

"Are you ready to grow up, Dead Master?" Black Gold Saw inquired in a bored tone.

"What are you talking about?" I snapped. "I need to get back to our world. I'm sick of these mongrels thinking they can do what they please!"

Suddenly, the crimson-haired girl's eyes darkened. Before I could even comprehend what had happened, I was on my back with her massive sword pressed against my chest where my heart was. Her eyes, which were usually dead with apathy, were now filled with anger.

"Open your eyes, Dead Master!" Black Gold Saw snarled. "For ten years now you have caused destruction and death. Do you think saving this world will absolve those sins?"

"I don't care!" I yelled back. "I don't care if this whole world despises me! All that matters is getting Black back."

"Why should you care?" Black Gold Saw demanded. "You have always been cruel to that child. Why should you care whether she lives or dies now?"

My eyes widened. Why did I care? Why had Yuu's words affected me to the point where a wound like the one I had received nearly vanished from rage alone? Why did a single touch from Black made my heart race?

What was Black Rock Shooter to me?

_Flashback:_

_The sun shone on what could only be a perfect day. The birds sang and the Sakura trees were in full bloom, sending cherry blossoms to blanket over the city. Yet I could not be happy. I could not smile or enjoy life as other children my age did. I could only remain silent and hope no one would see me hidden beneath this wonderful tree. If I were spotted, surely I would shatter into pieces._

_But as I looked up, I saw a strange girl standing before me. Her long, black hair was tied in two uneven pigtails and her eyes resembled the hottest, blue fire I had ever seen. I was not sure whether to cry because this person had come and disturbed my peace or to laugh because god would not even grant my one wish to be alone for a little while._

_I hid my face in my knees and tried not to sob. My shoulders shook and I felt like my chest was splitting in two. I was terrified that this strange girl would see me as a freak and run away. That's when I realized that I had not wanted to be alone in the first place. I had simply wanted someone to understand._

_Then, a gentle hand came down on my head. I looked up at the girl as she leaned against the tree and closed her eyes. She did not move or make a sound. She simply stood there as a silent companion._

_Every day I went by that tree to meet the strange girl. Even for someone who had very few things to say, her words were always filled with a tender kindness that warmed my heart. For hours we would sit in the meadow and stare up at clouds or fall asleep under the sun. These few hours were the only thing that kept me going. These few fleeting moments were enough to make me happy for eternity._

_But when I returned home, I returned to hell. After losing his experiment and suffering severe burns, my father turned to the bottle for comfort. No matter where I hid or what I tried to do to please him, I could never escape his drunken rages or his hardened fists. But even in his state he was still clever enough to hit where the bruises didn't show. He was still clever enough to keep his threats realistic if I ever told anyone. It was so painful. I honestly would have preferred death not a few weeks ago. If not for my new friend, I would have fallen into that dark abyss long ago._

_Never once did my friend make inquiries about my home, though I knew she caught sight of the bruises and the limp I often walked with. She would simply ruffle my hair in that gentle manner and silently give me the courage to keep moving forward. Without words she slowly mended my dead heart and taught me how to love again. It was then that I realized I loved her. I did not care if it were seen as wrong or inappropriate. Surely if two people loved one another it could not be bad. Surely, if she returned my feelings, we could find a way to escape all of this pain._

_I would never get the chance to confess, though._

_He was more outraged than usual. Before I knew what was happening, I was strapped to my bed. He starting pulling out some old supplies he had brought home, tapping a syringe of some sort of black liquid. "I can start again." he said with a grin. "I can't waste any money on the first failed experiment, though. If I use you, I can get the insurance money and buy all the supplies I need!"_

_It was painful. But what was worse was the realization that I was actually going to die here. To my last breath, I thought of that girl whose name I had yet to learn. To the last beat of my heart it was filled with regret. _

Tears streamed down my face as the memory faded away. Black Gold Saw's gaze grew a bit sympathetic, but she remained standing over me with her sword pressed to my chest. "The ten years that you existed as Dead Master brought nothing but agony to Black Rock Shooter. She has tried to atone for her sins by protecting you now when she could not then and yet you have done nothing but push her away." she stated. "So why, Dead Master, does it mean anything to you whether Black lives or dies?"

We were utterly alone. Nana Gray and Great Black Sword had disappeared at some point, leaving me to fend for myself. Now we stood beneath the full moon and I could almost see the endless sky of the world I loved so much.

I grinned. "That's a stupid question, even for you."

Black Gold Saw tilted her head to one side. I swung my foot under her and escaped as she regained her balance. Lightly, I grabbed my scythe from where it had fallen and swung it over my shoulders. Glancing back, my gaze softened a bit.

"I love her." I stated, simply.

The crimson-eyed girl rolled her eyes. "It took you long enough."


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: First and foremost, R+R! I am really happy people like this story, so I thank you all. Please enjoy this update and the ones to come.**

Home was just as it had been before we left. As Black Gold Saw used her strange abilities and brought us back, that little girl from before was sitting just where she had been when she sent us back to the human world. I drew my scythe, but Gold Saw held me back.

"I'm assuming you're the one who caused all of this trouble, Fang?" she asked.

The girl smiled, happily swinging her legs back and forth. "Of course. Nee-chan wasn't going to tell Dead Master anything, so I sent them to that place she hates so much."

"And why would you do that?" Gold Saw asked.

The girl's orange gaze fell on me. "'Cause Nee-chan doesn't really hate that place and she needed to remember that." she explained, "Because she loves that realm so much, because she trusted it and was betrayed by it, that is why she became an enemy of that world."

"Then why did you drag Dead Master into it?" Gold Saw asked, ruffling the girl's head.

"You have always made her world brighter." the girl smiled, "Of course it will shine if you're in it."

"Then that settles it," Gold Saw sighed, "Dead Master, you'll have to accompany me to rescue Black." She gave one of those smiles that did not seem to fit her personality and ruffled my hair. I rolled my eyes, following her as she took off through the barren landscape.

Even in our haste to get to Black, I could not help but wonder what this world would be like if we could save it. Would this wasteland be a field of flowers, or perhaps a forest? Would the sun shine? Would we finally be able to feel its warmth in this world? All of the possibilities were relentless and I felt a burst of anticipation in being able to show Black a world she could smile in again. It quickened my pace as we entered the castle. Soon I was passing Gold Saw, ignoring her words as I turned a corner. I felt Black nearby. Surely she was behind the door at the end of this corridor. Surely she would smile.

But what I saw was not my beloved Black Rock Shooter anxiously worrying about me as she often did now. I did not see that strong, slender frame poised to protect me. No. There was only blood. It was splashed across the walls and the ceiling and pooled on the floor. And standing in the middle of the blood was a girl with Black's face, but that was stained white and red.

"Dead Master!" I heard Gold Saw tell me to look away, but I could not. I had already seen that she was standing over something with Black's sword clutched in her hands. And as my eyes fell upon the bloody mass crumpled on the ground, I could feel my chest constrict with that strange rage again. I could feel it consuming the fragile feelings I had been harboring, eating them until they were nothing.

After all, what good were these feelings when they person they were meant for was no longer here?

Black Rock Shooter was dead.

White Rock Shooter looked up and grinned at me, insanely. "Oh? It looks like Black died before you got here." she said, kicking her counterpart's unrecognizable corpse. "Oh well. She can see you in hell, I suppose."

"Dead Master, don't kill her!" Gold Saw shouted, now preoccupied with a swarm of faceless servants. "If she dies, Black will have never existed! She'll have never lived long enough to even come to this world. You'll have never met her!"

"Black-chan served her purpose." White Rock Shooter smiled, "Now I'll make her happy and destroy that world she hates so much. No matter what, every single human will die tonight."

I laughed.

"You think she hates that world?" I asked.

"Of course. Black-chan went through a lot of pain. That's why I exist. I destroy everything that makes her sad, so I'll destroy that place too."

"Black loves that world just as she loves this one." I stated, "You say it caused her pain, but that pain is gone. There's only kindness left there for her."

"Liar," White mumbled.

"The people in that world love Black Rock Shooter. By now everyone knows who she is and they don't care." I continued, staring up at the ceiling.

"Liar…!" she growled.

"The person they hate is not Black, but you." I continued, "They hate the person who stole her smile from them."

"LIAR!" she shouted, "They all know that Black-chan is a monster; I made sure of that! Right now they are hating her and rejoicing that she is not here anymore. Only I understand her and I'll destroy everyone who says different! Don't even bother fighting back!"

That did not matter, though. Why would I bother trying to kill White Rock Shooter? There was simply no point in it. It would neither bring Black back, nor ease this ever-growing hatred in my chest. There was no meaning to my existence any longer. There was only hatred and pain.

It would not be so bad to die here…

* * *

><p><em>Yomi<em>

"It's all over the web now. You two were harboring the monsters!" yet another classmate accused. Countless glares followed us as Mato and I silently walked towards the auditorium for a school meeting. A video had been uploaded to the school webpage of Dead Master chopping off the head of a girl only Mato and I would ever know was not quite human. Yuu was already telling her side, being a star witness and almost dying, herself. Not only that, but images of Black fighting with some inhuman monster were going viral as well.

The school-wide meeting in the auditorium did not go well, either. Rather than trying to defend his new students, our head master stated that he had never wanted them in the school in the first place. The media had been invited and the whole world was watching now as he claimed that they had threatened his life in order to have their records faked.

Mato was about to stand, but after hearing his words I beat her to it.

"What is wrong with all of you?" I demanded, looking at my classmates. They all glared, but remained silent. "How can you call them monsters when you have no idea what Black and Sendo have gone through?"

"Why should we care if a monster suffers?" someone shouted.

"Do you have any idea how much they enjoyed being at this school? Black and Sendo have never once been permitted to be normal high-schoolers and this is exactly why!" I snapped, "Every time they get close to someone they are always pushed away by our hatred!"

"So what?" another student demanded.

"How many of you actually know what a monster is?" I looked back to see Mato stand. Her gaze posture was calm, but there was a fire in her gaze much like that of Black's. "It is true that Black is not my twin; she's not even related to me." she continued with a bit of a sigh. "But I have known her ever since I could dream. I've seen the world she sees and I know that she, everyone like her for that matter, is far from the monster in this story."

"Shut up Kuroi!" a young man shouted.

"You can tell me to shut up when you survive a school shooting!" she snapped, "You can tell me to shut up after you've been shot at and hated and feared and yet you still go into the fires of a burning building to save the people who show you so much hatred. That is what Black endured."

She walked to the front of the auditorium and slammed a newspaper on the overhead, turning it on against the wall for the school, the students, the media, and the rest of the world to see. The media went wild as everyone began to search their phones for the article, all staring at the date and the picture on the front page. It was a simple, crudely taken picture from a student's cellphone, but it was enough to shock everyone into silence, to shake all of them to the core.

In the picture, Black stood between a young man with a semi-automatic gun and a female student cowering behind her. Blood stained the front of her white uniform, but she held her ground. Her gaze never left that young man, frozen in time as she held the end of the weapon.

"You would think that she would have been a hero, but instead her classmates saw as you do now!" Mato shouted, "So she was taken from her home and put in a research facility, her name and life stolen from her. There she endured three years of torture until the lab exploded."

Everyone was silent.

"She and Sendo never had the opportunity to be normal high-schoolers, so when they asked for a place to stay I did not hesitate to give them one." Mato continued, "They are my family, if not in blood than in bond. So I, more than any of you could possibly understand, know how they felt. They are not the monsters."

The T.V. screens all somehow turned on, most likely the doing of one of the media club members, making everyone realize that Mato was on every news channel and emergency broadcast in the world, being translated into hundreds of languages.

"Humanity is the monster."

* * *

><p><em>BRS<em>

Ah, the pain stopped. I could no longer feel anything. There was no suffering, but there was no air in my lungs, either. My heart would not beat, no matter how much I willed it to. Slowly I was sinking into this abyss that could surely only be called death.

Dead Master…

All of this pain had been because of the humans. They were evil beings incapable of thinking past violence and cruelty. They consumed the good things that existed in their world and slowly drained them of ours as well. They destroyed everything to obtain their power and abused that power after gaining it.

_**They all deserve to die…**_

So why did I not feel any rage? Why did I not despise these beings that had taken everything from me? Why did I not hate them for making me a monster?

A memory suddenly flooded my mind.

"_Black, I know you have every right to hate people, but this world is not so bad. If you give it a chance, you might just see what humanity is really capable of."_

Mato said those words, didn't she? Yomi was always kind, too. In only a few weeks I had come to know people who, given time, could maybe understand a monster like me.

"Ah, the light hurts my eyes…" I thought, reaching towards it.

"Dead…."


	11. Finale

**AN: Getting close to the end, people. Now, this will probably be the second-to-last chapter, but I am contemplating making a sequel. Let me know what you think, please. I'm going to try and finish this whole thing tonight.**

**R+R!**

"Dead…"

The room fell silent as that voice called out. My eyes widened and everyone, even the fighters in the next room, froze to stare down at what should have been a corpse. But instead, we all watched as Black Rock Shooter struggled into a crouch, ripping her sword from her own back. Her blood burst into blue flames and her form was cast in shadow, but even then I could see her piercing gaze. Even as I was pulled into the fight, I could feel the power emitting from her, filling everyone with a new strength.

The fire engulfed everything, devouring the enemies it could snag onto. White screamed, lunging at her counterpart and throwing them both into a battle that shook the walls with every blow. I fought, looking back at Black with each chance I got.

"No, No, NO!" White Rock Shooter shouted, angrily slashing at Black. The blue-eyes fighter dodged each time, though, slicing through White with sleek movements unseen to the normal eye. "I was supposed to make all the bad things go away! How can I do that if you're not _**dead?**_"

Black clashed with White, insanity with rationality, hatred with love. All of these forces collided, sending a wave of destruction through the castle and splitting it in two. The ground gave out, making most of us fall, but I managed to grab onto a ledge, watching as Black rushed straight into White's scythe.

But only Black was wounded.

She gave a gentle smile, hugging her counterpart. "Baka…" she said, quietly. "If there were no bad things in the world, we could never see the good things."

All of the bloodshed and the pain seemed to melt away. The destruction melted away, leaving the few of us who had survived to witness this display of utter wisdom.

"No!" White screamed, "If Black-chan isn't afraid anymore, then I have no meaning! What am I if not Black-chan's hero?"

Black looked up at the sky with that stoic gaze. "I like books and music. I like taking naps in the sunshine under the Sakura Trees in the school courtyard." she said, "But more than anything else, I like protecting the people I love, even if they don't love me back."

In one swift movement, Black sliced through White, reducing her to a small child with tear-filled eyes. The child shut her eyes, waiting for a blow and receiving nothing more than a gentle ruffling of her hair. She looked up and saw Black smile gently down at her.

"That is the real White Rock Shooter." she said, warmly. "That is the real Shiro Inugami."

The little girl smiled, turning and running into the distant white landscape. She stopped only once, turning and shouting, "Next time, I'll protect Black-chan for sure!" And after that, she was gone.

I took a step towards Black, but Gold Saw caught my arm. "It's not over yet." she warned.

A loud crash sounded and the ground began to break up. Suddenly the world we had left behind came into view. People were screaming as darkness fell upon them. Fires broke out and buildings collapsed. It was as if a thousand years of destruction and war were coming down on them all at once. Their world was trying to catch up with ours, aging over a thousand years in a matter of minutes.

* * *

><p><em>Mato<em>

The ground shook beneath our feet and the screams sounded from outside of the school. A fire burst through the doors and gunfire sounded just behind it. People began to run, pushing towards the emergency exits. Yomi and I were lucky to get out without being trampled on.

We stared up at the Other World, which was now melting into ours. Tiled floors melted in with cement roads and the moon shone in a sky that was not ours. People were in a panic, but the media was everywhere, scanning the area and recording fights that they could not see. But Yomi and I could see it all. Other Selves collided with one another, spilling their blood and the blood of innocent people onto the ground.

"Mato, where is Sendo and Black?" Yomi asked, worriedly. "Do you see them anywhere?" I searched, but when I could not find them I was not sure whether I should be glad or worried.

"Do you think they'll be alright?" I asked.

But Yomi no longer looked worried. She pulled her gaze away from something, smiling. "Don't worry. Everything will be alright."

I blinked, surprised.

"Because, you know," she continued, looking up at the moon, "Those two surely deserve to be happy together."

* * *

><p><em>DM<em>

"Black is the only one who can stop it." Gold Saw called out.

"Then why won't she?" Great Black Sword, who stood in the midst of the fighters, demanded.

Black Gold Saw turned to me. "She needs to know her words were true. She needs to know that there is still good in her world."

Knowing exactly what she meant, I looked up at Black. She stood at the edge of our world, looking out at the destruction taking place. I could see the pain and uncertainty in her gaze, though she tried so desperately to hide it.

"Black…" she looked up just as I wrapped my arms around her neck, closing the distance.

I really do love you.

**AN: Short, I know. Next one is too, probably. But, alas, our time must come to the end. FINAL CHAPTER NEXT!**


	12. Epilogue

**AN: I am very happy that you have read my first completed work. I really enjoyed writing this story, and I hope you liked it as much as I did. The following segment is short, but I'm sure everyone would wonder just as much as I would what happened next, right? So please enjoy the epilogue to Broken Black. (For the record I was going to finish this all in one night but my internet crashed. SO CLOSE!)  
><strong>

**Farewell!**

"Today is the two-year anniversary of the tragic events that led to the union of all humanity. Originating in a small city in Japan, a wave of destruction nearly covered half the earth, killing at least six million people." the reporter went on. "However, out of the darkness came what seemed like very ordinary girls, but what turned out to be very extraordinary stories. Their exact numbers remain unknown, but through the newfound bridges between this reality and their own, governments are working for peace and justice for the young women who get a second chance at life when their first was cruelly stolen from them."

I turned the channel.

"Already Japan's Prime Minister is working to slowly integrate the girls into schools and give them a chance at normal lives. Of course, we are still not sure of their potential and life spans, but millions of Japanese citizens are willing to bend over backwards for these girls that gave them a chance to redeem themselves as human beings." another reporter stated, "Already the mysterious girls' leaders are slowly emerging, but the two true heroes witnesses claim destroyed the enemy that nearly destroyed this world have still not been seen. It all begs the question: Where are they now? Wherever you are girls, we thank you, from the bottom of our hearts."

"Mato, Yomi, it's time for school." Kaa-san called. We turned off the T.V., rushing outside to go catch the train. Yomi's parents, who were visiting from America, waved goodbye to us as we rushed down the street. We waved to our neighbors and people on the street who recognized us from interviews.

Suddenly, Yomi stopped. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"I heard her," Yomi beamed. "I heard Sendo-chan! Black was there too!"

I smiled back. It had been happening more frequently now than last year. It made me wonder if these glimpses into the lives of our dearest friends were perhaps on purpose. Perhaps they were letting us know that they were alright.

"I wonder how they're doing." Yomi mused, continuing to walk.

"Well, as long as they're together, surely they're happy." I replied.

The moon shone overhead and the sky was just as strange as ever. A huge, decimated castle stood carved into the side of a towering mountain, cast in deep shadow. Looking only at that, it seemed as if nothing had changed. It felt like the pain and loss everyone had gone through had been all for nothing.

But just by turning around, I knew that every bit of sacrifice was worth it. Staring at the flowers that stretched over the grassy meadow and the crystal-clear lakes that reflected the moon so perfectly filled my heart with so much joy that I feared it may burst.

"Dead…" I looked up from where I lay in the tall grass at my beloved Black Rock Shooter, who stood in a white, loose blouse and a pair of black slacks. She smiled, laying down next to me and interlocking our fingers. We stared up at the moon and the stars in peaceful silence for a long time before I heard a loud shout. Sitting up, I spotted Great Black Sword slicing through the water and sending it splashing down on Nana Gray, who irritably lashed back. Black Gold Saw watched from her perch on the remnants of some metal shrapnel now being overwhelmed by a flowering vine, chuckling to herself. Beyond that there were fires dotting the endless span of green and blue and laughter could be heard.

It was so peaceful.

Rolling onto my stomach, I pushed up on my elbow and looked down at Black, who was still staring at the stars. "I know the potential was there, but I never thought I would get to see this place as it is now." she said, warmly.

"It's because Black loves the world that it can really shine." I replied.

"Ah, then I would gladly give it all up." she said. I tilted my head to one side and she chuckled, ruffling my hair. "I would give up everything here for Dead, because I love you more than anything this world could give me."

"Baka," I mumbled, but I could not find it in me to abuse her. Instead I leaned down, relaxing into her warm embrace and closing the gap between our lips. The sweet taste was enough to make me dizzy, but I would gladly stay like this if it meant having Black by my side.

I also, hopelessly, irreversibly, madly, love you, my Black Rock Shooter.


End file.
